Wire-nail machine



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

W. F. HUTGHINSON.

WIRE NAIL MACHINE. No. 593,020. Patented Nov, 2,1897.

ATTORNEY.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. F. HUTGHINSON.

WIRE NAIL MACHINE.

No. 593,020. Patented Nov. 2,1897.

ATTORNEY.

m: NORRrs PETERS 110., Psow umo. WAQHMGTON. u c.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 (No Model.)

W. F. HUTGHINSON.

' WIRE NAIL MACHINE. No. 593,020. Patented Nov. 2, 1897.

WITNESSES I/VVEMOR l ATTORIVH.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

(No Model.)

W. F. HUTG'HI-NSON.

' WIRE NAIL MACHINE. N0. 593,0 Z0 Patented Nov. 2, 1897.

wnwssss; w W m/mvme ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES Pn'rnr @rrrcn.

WILLIAM F. HUTOHINSON, OF BOUND BROOK, NElV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO l'lIllIlSELF AND THE OLIVER WIRE COMPANY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.

WlRE-NAlL-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 593,020, dated November 2, 1897.

Application filed November 5, 1896. Serial No. 611,099. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom zit may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. HUTCHIN- SON, of Bound Brook, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WVire-Nail Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in rotary machines for cutting nails from a con-' tinuous wire; and the object of myinventi on is to produce a simple and durable machine of this character which has a system of rotary cutters adapted at one operation to cut aperfect nail-point, to provide an intermittentlypperating clutch by which the wire is held rigidly while the point is cut, and to produce a heading device operating automatically after the cutting of the nail-points to form the heads on the several nails, all to the end that perfect nails may be rapidly made.

To this end my invention consists of a nailrnachine the construction, organization, and operation of which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a broken sectional plan on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2 of the machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3is a broken sectional side elevation of the machine. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail View, partly in section, of the cutters and the feed-clutch, Fig. 5 is a detail face view of one of the cutting-rolls and the cutters thereon. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail sectional view of one of the nail clamps or jaws and the arrangement for heading the nail while it is held in the jaws, and Fig. 7 is a detail plan view of the nail-guide which receives the nail-blank as it comes from the cutters and guides it to the carrying-jaws which hold the blank until the nail is headed.

The machine has a frame 10 substantially constructed and of any preferred design, at the top of which is a suitable guide 11,through which guide is fed the wire 12, from which the nail is out. From the guide 11 the wire passes between feed-rolls 13, which also assist in straightening the wire, these rolls being carried by shafts 14, journaled on the frametop and geared together by gear-wheels 15, one of which is driven from an idler 16,

which is driven bya gear-wheel 17, the latter 5 5 is driven by a gear-wheel 26 on the shaft 27, 6 5

and the gear-wheel 26 is driven from a pinion 28 on the main driving-shaft 29, which has a suitable driving-pulley 30. It will of course be understood that any suitable driving mechanism may be used for driving the parts of the machine but I have referred to the above gears in order that the operation may be understood, and some of the parts will be more specifically referred to below.

After leaving the feed'rolls 13 the wire 12 passes through the feed-clutch 31, which operates intermittently, closing on the wire while the latter is being severed and the nail-point formed, as below described, and opening to permit the feed of the wire. has a stationary part 82, which is screwed into the frame, and is therefore adjustable, being held by a lock-nut 83, (see Fig. 2,) and opposite the part is a sliding portion 34,

which moves in a suitable bearing and which connects with the part 32 by means of dowelpins 35, (see Fig. 4,) there being two pins which straddle the wire, although the 'iigure illus trates but one. The clutch is normally pressed open by the spiral springs 36, which encircle the dowel-pins. The outer end of the sliding part 34 is preferably reduced, as shown as 37, and this part is struck successively by the rolls 38, which are journaled on the wheel 39,

this being carried by the shaft 19 already re- 5 ferred to, and the shaft is timed so that a roll 88 will strike the reduced end 37 of the part 34 of the clutch 31 and close the clutch on the wire 12 at the same instant that a nail-point is being out below the clutch, and thus the wire is held firmly, so that a perfect point can be made.

This 60 This clutch 31 8o The wire is severed to form nail-blanks and the points out by the cutter-rolls 40, which turn opposite each other and are arranged below the clutch 31, these rolls being carried by shafts 11, which shafts are driven by the gear-wheels 20, described above. Each cutterroll has a groove 42 on its face (see Fig. 5) to receive and guide the wire, and the face of each roll is also recessed at regular intervals, as shown at 43, in which recesses are placed the slightly-oscillating cutters 4a, which are arranged in pairs and have opposite bits 45 adapted toclose upon the wire and cut obliquely downward into it, as will be more specifically described presently. Each pair of cutters has a split shank 46 with a suitable shoulder 47 thereon turning in a recess of the roll 40, the shank being cut away slightly from the center to one edge toprovide for a limited oscillation, as shown clearly in Fig. 5. The shanks 46 are grooved at the inner end, as shown at 48 in Fig. 4, to receive wedge-pins 49, which prevent the accidental displacement of the shanks and cutters. Any suitable means, however, can be used to hold the cutters in place, and the invention is not limited to the particular cutters shown. Each cutter 4:4 is provided on the outer edge (see Fig. 5) with shoulders 50 and 51, which successively engage fixed abutments 52, which are secured to the frame of the machine and which are arranged opposite each cutter of a pair, so that as the roll 10 advances the abutrnents first strike the shoulders 50 and close the bits 45 upon the wire, this closure being gradual by reason of the inclined shape of theabutments, and as the shoulders 51 are behind the center of the cutters this causes the cutters to be again opened to engage the wire after a revolution of the roll 40.

, By reference to Fig. 4 it will be understood that the rolls 40 are timed so that opposite pairs of cutters approach opposite sides of the wire 12 coinstantaneously, and hence each pair of cutters will at the same instant engage the wire and be gradually forced into it by the abutments 52 and will also move downward by the motion of the rolls 40, so that a point 12 is cut on the wire, while the upper end of the blank 12 below the point will be whiskered or prolonged, as shown at 12 in Fig. 4, and these whiskers when the nail is headed are welded with sufficient nioety to form a good head, and therefore no material is wasted. This is an important matter, as usually the part corresponding to the whiskers or prongs is cut off, and the waste amounts to from two and one-half to three per cent. of the material in the nails.

After leaving the cutter-rolls 40 the blanks 12 are dropped into the guide 53, which is shown in detail in Fig. 7, and which has parallel and meeting blocks or plates 54, with a hole 55 therein to receive the nail-blank. These plates are separable, being fixed to spring-arms 56, which are secured to a suitable head or block 57 on the bolt 58, which can be fastened to the frame of the machine,

as shown in Fig. 3. Any spring-guide of the general character described may be substituted for the one shown without affecting the principle of the invention.

The guide 50 servesto guide the nail-blanks 12 to the clamping-jaws 59 and 60 on the rotary wheel or carrier 61-, which issecured to the shaft 27, already referred to and shown clearly in Fig; 2. Of these jaws the jaw 59 is fixed and the jaw 60 slidable in and out in relation to the fixed jaw, so that the nailblank can be clamped securely between them, and the parts next the nail are of course suitably hardened. The periphery or face of the wheel 61 is grooved, as shown at 62, so that the nail-blank can enter the groove and be guided to thejaws before it leaves the guide 53, and after it is clamped by the jaws the motion of the carrier or wheel 61 pulls the blank from the guide 53. Each jaw 60 is notched, as shown at 63, to'receive the free end of a spring 65 (see Fig. 6,) which is fastened to the wheel or carrier 61, and the tension of which closes the jaw',and the jaw has also at its outer side and inner edge a lip 65, which engages a segmental guide 66, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) carried by springs 67, and this guide by pressingon the lip 65 holds the jaw 60 open, as shown at the bottom of Fig. 2, so that the nail-blank can drop between the two jaws; but as soon as the lip 65 leaves the guide 66 the spring 64 closes the jaw 60 against the nail-blank sufficiently to hold the blank in place, but the jaw is more securely held when the blank is headed, as hereinafter described. When the jaws are finally forced firmly against the nail-blank, the latter is barbed, the jaws being provided with dies 68 for this purpose; No invention is claimed for this arrangement, and the dies can be made of any length and located'at any desired point with reference to the nail.

As the carrier or wheel 61 revolves the outer ends of the nail blanks 12 pass beneath a presser-plate 69, which gradually approaches the carrier, and so the nail-blanks are pressed well into the jaws 59 and 60 until onlyasufficient part of a blank protrudes to form a suitable head.

The heading is done by the plungers 70, which are forced, as presently described, against the protruding ends of the nail-blanks, and each pair of jaws 59 and 60 is slightly recessed around the part which receives the blank, in which recess the head is formed, as shown clearly in Fig. 6. At the time the blank is struck by one of the plungers 70, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, the jaw 60, holding the particular blank which is being headed, is forced rigidly against the blank by an abutment-roller 71, although a cam-abutment can be substituted, if preferred, the roller being journaled on a suitable supportingbracket '72.

The plungers 70 are arranged near the periphery of a rotary carrier 73 and move parallel with the axis of the carrier. rier is secured to a shaft 74:, which is driven by a beveled pinion 75, meshing with the beveled gear-wheel 76 on the shaft 27. The plungers 7 O are arranged so as to register with the the said end into the recess at the outer end of the jaws 59 and 60, thus welding the pron gs and making a head.

As the wire 12 is fed into the machine by the rolls 13 and through the clutch 31 the latter is closed intermittently upon the wire at the time that the wire is cut by the rotary dies or cutters 44 of the cutting-rolls 40. The feed of the machine is continuous, however, as the wire is stopped by the clutch 31 only for the slightest instant, and this merely causes the wire to buckle between the clutch and the feed-rolls. As soon as the wire is cut and the point formed by the cutters 44 the wire straightens out ready to be out again. As fast as the blanks are cut off by the cutters it they are dropped one by one into the guide 53 and between the jaws 59 and 60 of the wheel or carrier 61, which close, as already described, upon the nail-blanks, and the blanks when carried forward by the wheel are pulled from the guide 53, forced inward by the presser-plate 69, headed by the plungers 70, all acting in detail, as already specified, and, finally, after leaving the plungers the jaws 60 are reengaged by the guide 66 and opened, so as to release and drop the complete n ails.

be done with the utmost rapidity and is, therefore, a very important feature of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I

The car-' claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a nail-machine, the combination of the oppositely-arranged cutter-rolls, each roll having on its face oscillating knives shaped and actuated so as to cut two sides of a nailpoint, substantially as described.

2. In a nail-machine, the combination of the oppositely-arranged cutter-rolls having recessed faces with oscillating knives in the said recesses, the knives being arranged in pairs and the opposite pairs being shaped and actuated so as to out the four sides of a nailpoint, substantially as described.

3. In a nail-machine, the wire-clutch comprising oppositely-arranged parts movable in relation to each other and arranged to permit the passage of a wire between them, a guide entering the ends of the opposite parts to make them register, and movable abutments adapted intermittently to strike one of said parts, substantially as described.

4. In a nail-machine, the combination with a cutter-roll and the oscillating knives having shoulders on their outer edges, of the abutments in the paths of such shoulders, substantially as described.

5. In a nail-machine, the combination of the oppositely-arranged cutter-rolls, and the oscillating knives mounted in pairs on the rolls, means for closing said knives gradually on a wire between the rolls and open the same as the wire is passed, substantially as described.

6. In a nail-machine, the nail-blank carrier comprising a rotary wheel having opening and closing spring-actuated jaws on its face and a peripheral guide-slot extending between the open jaws, an abutment to move the jaws against the tension of the spring, and a presser-plate arranged opposite the jaws and adapted to press nail-blanks between the jaws, substantially as described.

7. In a nail-machine, the combination with the rotary carrier, of the jaws arranged in pairs on its face, one jaw of each pair being fixed and the other slidable in relation to the fixed jaw, a spring closure for the slidable jaw, and means, as the segmental guide and the lip on the jaw, to move the latter against the tension of the spring, substantially as described.

WILLIAM F. HUTCHINSON.

Witnesses:

W. B. Huronrnson, Bnnrna DEYO. 

